NYRA has campaigned to lower the legal drinking age to 18 for years, and progress has been made. But the prospect of a lower drinking age came one step closer to reality in the past month with the emergence of the Amethyst Initiative, a group of over 120 college presidents calling for a reconsideration of…
The National Youth Rights Association has decided to air its first ever television ad. The ad seeks support for lowering the voting age to 16. The ad will run in the Washington, DC market in late October on the popular channels CNN, Comedy Central, MSNBC, MTV, VH1, and Cartoon Network. We hope to target both…
If all the activity of the past month wasn’t enough, NYRA has moved to a new office! After the annual meeting was over and most people had gone home, NYRA staff and volunteers helped move all our equipment to our new offices. In an office swap with another organization, Atlas Service Corps, NYRA got a…
NYRA and board member Keith Mandell are sponsoring “Make NYRA Famous,” a contest to see who can create the best NYRA TV ad. We are looking for talented, creative members and supporters to create our very first TV ad, which will be aired on Washington DC cable this fall on stations like CNN and MTV….
Voting in this year’s annual election is complete, and the results have been announced! The membership chose a new Board of Directors, a new slogan for NYRA, and voted on changes to the organization’s mission statement and bylaws. Voting began on July 3 and lasted for a month until the annual meeting on August 2;…
This month NYRA held its annual meeting at its offices in Washington, DC, and it was by all measures a great success. This year’s meeting had the biggest turnout ever, with an estimated 30 people in attendance. Good times were had by all, with good food, amazing people, and some great presentations and workshops. The…
Someone on Yahoo Answers recently asked a question to the effect of, “Do you consider 16-year-olds to be adults?” As of this writing, I’ve not been able to get my rather lengthy response through Yahoo’s wall of technological uselessness to actually post it, but I was rather pleased with myself, and Alex agreed, so I…
10:25am (yasha): We’re here in DC on the first day of the 2008 Annual Meeting for NYRA. A few of us will be live blogging throughout the day whenever possible. After a few early technical difficulties, we’re currently listening to a presentation from the ACLU including a viewing and discussion of their DVD “Busted”. Check…
The NYRA staff has been hard at work over the last week, setting up for the 10th Anniversary Annual Meeting. Chip Sinton, with some token assistance from various other volunteers, secured in-kind donations and bulk deals from Panera Bread, The Bagel Store, and Dominoes. Alex has been hard at work on another wholly adequate Annual…
On June 24, as the U.S. House of Representatives was debating the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008, which later passed overwhelmingly, members of NYRA’s District of Columbia chapter attended a hearing before the DC City Council about the rampant abuses in behavior modification facilities. The City Council is considering…
